Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Tip from 8-y-o boy cracks mystery surrounding disappearance of gorgeous young mom

Episode Date: September 21, 2020

Rebecca Hoover had been missing more than three weeks when her son told his guidance counselor that he saw his father kill his mother in the family's basement. Hoover was reported missing by her mother on Aug. 2.Joining Nancy Grace today: Vinoo Varghese, Criminal Defense Attorney, former Prosecutor, Varghese & Associates  www.varheselaw.com   Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta Ga www.angelaarnoldmd.com Chris Byers, former Police Chief Johns Creek Georgia, 25 years as Police Officer, now Private Investigator and Polygraph Examiner, www.chrisbyersinvestigationsandpolygraph.com  Joe Scott Morgan - Professor of Forensics Jacksonville State University, Author,"Blood Beneath My Feet" featured on "Poisonous Liaisons" on True Crime Network Sierra Gillespie - Crime Online Investigative Reporter Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Is the mystery surrounding the disappearance of a beautiful woman cracked wide open by a single tip from an eight-year-old boy. On August 4th, the New Albany Police Department's patrol division was alerted to Ms. Hoover's disappearance. This information was relayed to the New Albany Police Department by Miss Hoover's family, particularly her mother. Officers from New Albany Police responded to the residence. Miss Hoover was not located at that time.

Fast-forwarding to August 27th, our criminal investigators of whom many are in the room here today were alerted that, uh, Miss Hoover's disappearance, uh, may very well have been criminal in nature. Based on that information, our criminal investigators hide here and spent countless hours uncovering the facts of this case. You are hearing Chief Todd Bailey with the New Albany Police. You're hearing him talk about somehow trying to explain how she's reported missing by her mother on August the 4th. It takes till August 27th, and they think maybe her disappearance could be criminal in nature. August 4th to August 27th. It took them that long to figure out, hey, you know what?

I think something's wrong. Well, I'm calling BS on that right at the get-go. Again, thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and SiriusXM 111. Let me introduce to you our all-star panel. Joining me, Vinu Varghese, criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor at Varghese & Associates at VargeseLaw.com. Dr. Angela Arnold, renowned psychiatrist, joining me from the Atlanta jurisdiction at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Chris Byers, the former police chief, Johns Creek, Georgia, 25 years as a cop, now private investigator and polygrapher. He's at Chris ByersInvestigations and Polygraph.com.

Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon, now the star of a new series, Poisonous Liaisons on the True Crime Network, Joseph Scott Morgan, Sierra Gillespie with me, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. You know, let me just throw this at you first. Let me pick on you, Chris Byers. You're the former chief of police in Johns Creek.

23 days? Why is it? Why, chief? When a woman goes missing, everybody just assumes she shacked up with some boyfriend in a hotel. Why? Why does it take 23 days to figure out, hey, this could be criminal in nature? Yeah, there's no excuse for that. That is a huge mistake in this case.

Precious, precious evidence is missed within hours after someone going missing like this. And, yes, I'll just have to own that on behalf of law enforcement that uh too often we go into these things and downplay what's going on and miss the criminal nature yeah there's no excuse for that in this case I mean Vinu Varghese your former prosecutor take off your defense attorney hat how many times have you seen just for instance a teen girl goes missing and they say oh it's a runaway. No, she's been kidnapped and she's now being pimped out by some thug or a woman. Why is it over and over and over?

And I know you've used this as a defense before. She's just off with her boyfriend. Hey, do you remember Drew Peterson? He's still saying that about his fourth wife, Stacey Peterson, convicted on the murder of his third wife, Kathleen Savio. He's still to this day, it's been what, 20 years? Yeah, she left with her boyfriend. Really? Well, I think, you know, back in the day when I was working at the DA's office in Brooklyn, you know, I would go to crime scenes, investigate homicides.

And, you know, in this thing, at this part of the juncture, prosecutors aren't involved, right, because it's just an investigation. But normal policing, from, you know, all my experience, everything I've seen, means you go and investigate everything. You know, Vinny Verghese, I hear you, but I specifically ask you to take off your defense hat, and you did not do it. The point is, Joseph Scott Morgan, while everybody twiddles their thumbs,

and 72 hours pass, the stats are that after 72 hours, the victim is dead, statistically speaking. And while we sit around and imagine her bunked up in a hotel with her boyfriend having hot, crazy sex, which is very rarely the case, she's dying. Yeah, she is, Nancy, and it's a horrible way to die. Hey, 72 hours, that's critical because every moment, just like Chief Byers had mentioned just a moment ago, you know, for every second that ticks off of that clock from an investigative standpoint, we're losing precious time relative to her life. We're losing precious time relative to even things like trace evidence.

Things are getting, you know, pulled away from the case. They're getting rained on or maybe they're getting this activity that's going on. Maybe somebody's going in to try to clean things up. With us, the friend of the missing mom, Rebecca Hoover, Chris Carriker. Chris, what kind of mom was she? She was with them every day, all the time. She would call us and that, and she'd be out in the pool swimming with the kids and that. Her husband had gone off to work some other place, some other state, for God knows how long or whatever, and she was the sole provider

for the kids, caregiver for the kids. And she would not be comfortable going 24 hours without seeing her kids. She had to come back to Illinois a couple times for friends of the family's funerals

or something like that, and she would only come for one to two days, and she would have to go right back because she's just going to take the energy from her kids. Now, to renowned psychiatrists joining me, Dr. Angela Arnold at AngelaArnold md.com. I remember on the set of HLN, I would be so worried about the twins being with me working at night. They finally installed the nanny cam in the top of the desk. Like the desk looks smooth. If you were looking at me, but I could look down at the desk and watch the nanny cam to know the twins are okay. So I could focus on the crime at issue and the investigation and hopefully get answers because I knew that the twins were okay. I find it really hard to believe this mom would just take off. Well, and also, Nancy, when people around you know what kind of a mother you are, people look at mothers and how they treat their children and who spends

time with their children and who doesn't spend time with their children. And when people know about the mother's habits, those are very true things that are being said, and those habits don't change, and you can't hide that from people. Her actions in the past are definite predictors of her actions in the future, and no, she would not leave these children for this amount of time. As I always say, Dr. Angela, when you don't know a horse, look at her track record. Right. She had never once left them unannounced, which is what is being claimed here.

And I am not buying it for one minute. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we were talking about the case of Rebecca. Is the mystery surrounding the disappearance of this beautiful young mom cracked wide open by a single tip from an eight-year-old boy. Out to longtime friend of Rebecca Hoover's Chris Carriker. Weigh in. I knew Becky probably close to 30 years.

I mean, over 20, closer to 30. She was really outgoing, very outspoken. She loved to socialize. She had lots of friends. She would do anything for anybody. And I know that she absolutely loved her kids. You know, I'm curious. We have the welfare check, the 911 call placed by her mother. Sierra Gillespie, what do we know about the last time the mom spoke to Rebecca? So the last time Rebecca and her mother spoke was on Saturday, August 2nd. They were on the phone. It was late at night, you know, just a normal call. Nothing out of the ordinary.

But Rebecca's husband, Judson, had come home. She saw him in the driveway and said to her mom, like, hey, he wants to talk. Let me just call you later and we'll talk again later. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. Not at all. To Chris Carrick, a friend of Rebecca's, what can you tell me about their relationship? I believe the first, I would say, couple years were probably pretty good. Like a romance type stage where he got her and kind of roped her in, I guess you'd say. Because if she experienced anything severely negative, I'll put it that way, with him, I would say in the first year or two, yeah, they wouldn't have stayed together. For her to stay with him, she definitely had to appear to be a decent person right off the bat. Straight out to Chris Myers, former police chief, Johns Creek, Georgia. Chris, in a case like this, what's the first thing police should be doing?

Certainly not waiting 23 days before they figure out something could be wrong, but what should they be doing? Yeah, absolutely. First thing, you should be looking into any type of history from that address with any of the people involved in it. First of all, they got to do a welfare check. So when you're going through a house like that, police often make the mistake of just looking for a person. You should be looking for everything, any type of evidence that might be there that, as was stated earlier, could be gone once you leave. But you start looking at credit card receipts. You start looking at bank activity. You start looking at social media.

You start looking, again, what history do you have there in the family? And you start piecing all of that together. You do not wait for that. You have to start that from the very beginning because, again, we've said time is ticking away, and that's things that you can lose and not get back. So they should have been jumping on that to determine then is this a criminal activity or again as we discussed is it just someone who's gone missing to you joseph scott morgan why is it that 72 hours the first 72

particularly if you're talking about things from a forensic standpoint like fragile evidence those things can be lost very very quickly so from my perspective as a forensic standpoint, like fragile evidence, those things can be lost very, very quickly. So from my perspective, as a forensic scientist, you have to get in there and assess the situation. And I'm thinking about things, Nancy, like blood evidence, for instance, let's just put it out there on the table. If you have this, it can be stepped on, it can be removed, it can be wiped up. So you have to get in there. And that's so critical. Like Chris was mentioning just a second ago about police actually going in and looking, not just for a person, but looking for any kind of evidence of forced entry, struggle.

You're talking about a mama here, Nancy. This is not somebody that's just going to pick up and vanish into the air. So you have to take a real long, critical look at every aspect in this case. You know what you're making me think of, Joe Scott Morgan, is the Vanessa Guillen case in Fort Hood, where she was called in on her day off to the armory to work. She was probably at first class who had wanted to go career army. Fort Hood said they did a thorough search of the armory it wasn't until weeks later when her body was found burned dismembered um cement poured onto her flesh that we learned she was bludgeoned dead in the armory bottom line in the arm yeah you've got all of this fragile blood

evidence that's there and it's sitting there for weeks, Nancy, in this case. We have to learn a lesson from the life lost of Vanessa Guillen. You know, we really do, and I want to look at the area. Joining me is Sierra Gillespie, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. It's in New Albany. Now, there's Albany, New York, which is the capital there. And there is Albany, Georgia. Where is New Albany? New Albany is technically in Indiana. So this is like the southmost point of Indiana, right on the border of Kentucky. So honestly, even though it's in Indiana, it's almost a suburb of Louisville, Kentucky. You're like 10 to 15 minutes away from Louisville. And that is beautiful.

Rolling country where the horses are bred. Isn't that right? I recall Kentucky Derby horses being bred in that area. Louisville is beautiful. What's the population? And I have a reason for this here, Gillespie. Yeah, so the population of New Albany, it's about 36,000 people. And compared to Louisville, that's 602,000 people. So it's much smaller. You know, that changes things, Chief Chris Byers, because when you have a really rural area, like where I grew up, that really reduces the suspect pool.

Although, Chief Byers, I don't know if you remember the case of Shasta and Dillon Groney. That occurred in Coeur d'Alene, which is, if you look, an aerial view is nothing but green. And the perp, in that case, happened to be driving by on the interstate, looked off, and he saw Shasta and Dylan, a little boy and his sister Shasta, in their above-ground pool. And right then, he laser-locked on them and decided he was going to get them to molest them. Goes in, wipes out the whole family to get the two children. Then he keeps them in captivity. And we learned that he would, I mean, raped both of them over and over and over, the boy and the girl.

But he would strangle the little boy until he would almost die and then let him come back to life over and over and over and rape him while the sister's there they were only saved when somebody in the mini mart saw shasta groeney following along behind him at like a gas station and recognized her. My point is that was out in extremely rural area in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. So that interstate led to the crime. But generally speaking, Chief, when you have a very rural area, it's not like you're in New York City where you run into strangers every day that could do you harm. Chief?

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So much different than the urban areas where it's different crimes of opportunity. When you're dealing in the rural areas, the suspect pool narrows tremendously. You are looking for someone who knows the victim, who's acquainted with them on a daily basis. So it does change that considerably. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about the sudden disappearance of Rebecca Hoover, a beautiful young mom. Did the whole investigation get cracked wide open based on a single tip from an eight-year-old boy?

Listen to this. Rebecca Hoover was last seen on August 2nd. Chris Carriker has known Rebecca and her family for decades. He said this last month has been hard on everyone who knew her. Just wondering, waiting, asking people questions, trying to find out if anyone has spoke to her since the second of the month. The couple has three children, all under the age of 13. Three children, all under the age of 13. Again, with me, Vinu Varghese, renowned criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor at VargheseLaw.com. Dr. Angela Arnold, psychiatrist joining me out of the Atlanta jurisdiction.

Chris Byers, former police chief, Johns Creek. Joseph Scott Morgan, death investigator. And Sierra Gillespie, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. I've mentioned to you, did the case get cracked wide open by an 8-year-old boy? To Chris Carricker, friend of Rebecca's, was there a search going on for her at the beginning? As far as I'm aware, at first I don't think so. I think the real criminal-like investigation took place once her son made the statement to the teacher. I think at that point is when they really kicked it into high gear and were like, okay, this isn't just a pissed-off wife that took off to get away from her husband or something like that.

That's when I think they finally realized, okay, there's something bad's happened. Why did it take a tip from an eight-year-old boy to get law enforcement off its rear end and investigate this case? Take a listen to our friends, WAVE 3 Elizabeth Pace. An unimaginable death at the hands of her husband. Police believe Rebecca Hoover was last seen on August 2nd. After further investigation, police believe that's the day her husband Judson Hoover killed Rebecca inside their home in front of their eight year old son. Her longtime friend Chris Carriker told me the couple had a history of an abusive relationship. According to the probable cause affidavit, Hoover's son told his elementary school counselor

that his dad killed his mom in the basement. He said he saw his dad stomp on his mom repeatedly and stab her in the stomach until she was unconscious. Hoover confessed to strangling his wife in court Thursday. No cameras were allowed inside. The 50-year-old told the judge he put her body in a container at a New Albany storage unit about five minutes from their home. We found a similar container behind his house Thursday. After police questioned Hoover about Rebecca's disappearance, he moved her body to a different storage unit in Louisville. That's where police found her on August 31st. Let me understand this. Sierra Gillespie, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter. They don't know what happened until the eight-year-old son tells the teacher he saw daddy stomping on mommy on the stairway and then stabbing her. They waited till a little boy cracks the case open for them.

Is that what happened, Sierra? Essentially, he is the biggest tip that kind of moves the case forward. Police did discuss with Judson Hoover and ask him questions initially after Rebecca had first been reported missing. And that's when he moved the body from the original storage unit in Indiana to one in Kentucky, in Louisville. But really, things didn't get going until her 8-year-old son came forward to his elementary school guidance counselor.

Now, let me understand. Sierra Gillespie, he murders her in the family home, correct? Yes, in the family home, in the basement. I find it really hard to believe, Joe Scott Morgan, really hard to believe. The cops come to the home, and she has been stomped 20 times in the head, at least, and stabbed. And there's no blood evidence for them to find nothing well from my understanding nancy they did find what appears to be some blood evidence at the base of the staircase but this goes to a bigger issue that we've mentioned a couple of times thus far you've

got so much time that has lapsed off the clock there's plenty of time to go back and clean up Nancy. And this goes to the horrific nature of this, that this guy could do this in front of an eight-year-old, and then he transfers the body into not just a container, Nancy, a 55-gallon oil drum, okay? And he stores her body and then moves it around. He's had a lot of time to think about this, to prep, to destroy evidence, to wipe up evidence, and to complete a completely different scenario than what actually happened. Joe Scott, when did they see, when did cops see the blood?

You know, I think that it was subsequent to a follow-up search of the residents at that point in time. So that gives us an indication that maybe, just maybe something could have been done okay hold on you know what i i'm trying to make sense of what you just said let's talk regular people talk did he did police see the blood before or after they found her body in a i guess you would say a bin at a storage unit.

When did they see the blood on the stairs? It's my understanding they saw the blood after they had discovered the body. Okay. So let me circle back with you, Joe Scott, on my original question. My original question, much like with Vanessa Guillen, is it's really hard for me to believe she's reported missing by her mother. Police come to the house and they don't see any blood. They see nothing. How can you not see the blood on the stairway? How can you not talk to the children? The blood is right there even

after they find her body. 23 days later, they find her body. The blood is right there even after they find her body 23 days later they find her body the blood is still there that means they didn't look joe scott no they didn't and again this goes to why am i having to i i'm a jd not a dds i don't know how to pull teeth they didn't even look joe scott no they didn't and they should have at that point in time because that would have given them some indication of something terrible has happened they didn't thoroughly go through this nancy this is not this is not just some random person that's disappeared off the face of the planet this is a mama nancy this is a mama that's got small children and you've already got this you know how can you're in a rural area how can you not know

as a police officer that there's been domestic problems in this house i mean we've heard the term violence thrown around prior to her death so how can you not be in tune to that is what i'm saying that is you have to have all of the information when you show up in the police that police in this rural area they know what's going on at any, how many times have they been called out there before? That gives me pause. I want to know what has happened at this location previously. So if you're aware of it, you're going to know, hey, look, that address comes up. You know, I'm going to be really tuned in to what's happening here. Obviously, they weren't. And to you, Venu Varghese, criminal defense attorney at Varghese and Associates.

You can find him at VargheseLaw.com. Venu, the reality is, is her mother reports her missing, not the husband. That always is a red flag to me. But she's reported missing on August 2. He files for divorce on August 3. I mean, don't you think you ought to tell your clients not to do a move, not to pull a move like that? This reminds me of Dave Chappelle

in his last Netflix special when he's talking about R. Kelly and having a video where R. Kelly says he's having sex with 14-year-old girls. Chappelle says, you've got to leave your lawyers something to work with. And in this situation, this guy telegraphed his, it's almost like he wanted to work with. And in this situation, this guy

telegraphed his, it almost like he wanted to get caught. You know, he's, he's putting her with his video cameras. I mean, they had this thing called you adore it and sign there. You adore it. We store it. I mean, like you can't get any worse than this, than this case. And then look, I mean, divorcing a dead woman, that's, I mean, talk about an uncontested divorce. I mean... And, guys, I know that you just heard Vinny Verghese laugh.

Can I tell you something? Don't hold that against him. Because when you deal with murder and child molestation every day, we're talking about how this guy basically took out a billboard on madison avenue i did it and about his own stupidity like r kelly and the chappelle special we are not in any way making light of the disappearance of this woman. But, you know, Vinu Varghese, you know, I've seen it in all the years that I prosecuted. You kind of develop a dark humor where it's actually easier to laugh at the defendant's moves

than to face the fact that he murdered the mom in front of the eight-year-old little boy i don't like thinking about it either i really don't and you know i'm thinking about it dr angela arnold yes ma'am i want to tell you something we haven't brought up the little boy the eight-year-old who cracked the case open, he was there and called 911, ran next door and called 911 on a previous event where the husband beat Rebecca 15 to 20 times in the face, neck, and head. And the little boy, I just hate it so bad. The little boy ran next door to call 911 to save his mother's life. And he's going to probably have survivor guilt the rest of his life. It's actually worse than that, Nancy. There's a lot of research that shows that children who

witness the abuse of their mother have a much more difficult time than if they were actually being abused themselves. It is more abusive to a child to witness the abuse of their mother than it is if the abuse were being heaped on them. I wonder why that is. I think that you know with my children I'm the first thing they see in the children, I'm the first thing they see in the morning. I'm the last thing they see at night. And I know how I am with my mother who lives with us now. That's the strongest relationship they have in their life. And they'll probably go the rest of their life wondering what could I have done to stop this,

even though there was nothing they could have done. Exactly. I mean, well, and it makes them feel so helpless at a certain point in their development, doesn't it? And their mother, their primary caregiver, the woman they love with all their heart, the woman that is supposed to be there for them, first of all, they're watching her be bludgeoned by their father, so they have no safety net at their core anymore. And they can't do anything to help. They're defenseless about doing anything to help.

I'm talking about the trail this guy left a mile behind. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. An eight-year-old son telling a teacher, a guidance counselor, that daddy murdered mommy. Take a listen to our friend Gilbert Corsi at WDRB News. Police say Rebecca Hoover was last seen August 2nd. Her husband filed for divorce the very next day. More warning signs on social media. One of her last Facebook posts

says Judson left with their kids and dog. Another days earlier says I've been tracked, hacked and spied on. Rebecca Hoover saying she felt shattered and needed a hug or a friend. Carriker says it's the last time they communicated. For her to put up with this as long as she did with him is really shocking to me. The coroner's office in Louisville confirmed that Rebecca Hoover's body was found in a unit here at this public storage off Strawberry Lane on Monday. They confirmed it was her with a tattoo on her back. Authorities would not release the cause of death. Police only saying they have strong evidence that Hoover is responsible for her death.

To Chris Carriker, longtime friend of Rebecca Hoover, what do you think happened? I believe that everything that took place was, I know, it was all premeditated. He intended on killing her. He knew that he was going to kill her. And she basically just told her he was going to kill her. And I believe after his 50th birthday, I believe it was, he posted online

and he made a comment on there and it's still there to today. And it said something in regards to thank you everybody for all the happy 50th birthday wishes and for making it a great day and for the one that ruined it your day is your days are numbered dot dot dot dot now from the day he posted that to the day he actually killed her i believe believe was, I think, four days. And all those clues were there on Facebook when she was reported missing.

All the clues were sitting there, and it took place 23 days, and an eight-year-old eyewitness coming forward off his own volition was never questioned at the time to crack the case. So what's your theory, Chris Karriker? I believe it was all set up. I believe because he had already had the storage units. He had already had the barrel at the house. He rented a hotel room the day he killed her or the day before.

And he rented it for a couple days. But then he came back to the house. Well, if you were leaving and you weren't going to come back to the house and you knew you weren't going to come back because you rented this hotel for a few days, why'd you come back? Because he wanted to use the hotel as an alibi.

But no, I left. I've been gone. We were staying at the hotel i haven't been back there and he used that time is when he went back there she was on the phone with her mom talking to her mom or whatnot and then she told her mom a later and that was the last time anyone ever spoke to her shortly after that is when he killed her to chris byers former police chief john's creek georgia and now you can find him at chris byers investigations and polygraph.com That is where he killed her. To Chris Byers, former police chief, Johns Creek, Georgia. And now you can find him at chrisbyersinvestigationsandpolygraph.com. Chief, I hate to come down on cops because they were my star witnesses in so many cases for so many years.

But to wait on an eight-year-old boy to, of his own volition, go tell a guidance counselor. Daddy there on Facebook is still there today. Her saying, I've been trailed, I've been hacked, I've been mistreated, I want a hug. That breaks my heart. And all the signs were there, Chief. Absolutely. There's no excuse for it. Again, you go back to the very first day that the uniform patrol division, I believe the chief said, went to the house to do the welfare check. If you'll take your eyes off of just looking for the person and

would drop down and look at the evidence that was on the stairs, the blood evidence, you have to be looking for those things from the beginning. You have to go into every call that you're looking for a criminal activity. That did not happen in this case. If you would look at the call history, the fact that there was an abusive history, all of the different things played into that. Look at the credit cards. You have to use credit cards to rent. I believe I even read somewhere that he had rented a van the couple days before. You've got the barrels that are there. You've got all of the evidence that was there that should have been followed up on from the time you walked into that house. Back in 2011, here just outside of Metro Atlanta, we had a case of little girl,

Jorellis Riviera, who went missing in an apartment complex. And police searched vacant apartments, and she was found three days later. And when they went back into one of the ones that was searched, that's where she was killed. There was blood evidence there. Nobody spoke up because they weren't looking for it. They weren't going into it looking for a crime. And that's what happened here. It's just they dropped their guard. It's just not the way you go into these cases.

It's not the way you investigate this. And, yeah, if they'd have found that blood the day they walked in there, I believe it would have changed the entire, you know, at least outcome, at least wouldn't have taken this long to figure out what was going on. At least it wouldn't take the little boy for the rest of his life remembering he went and told a teacher and that's how they found mommy. And it's not just that. There is video surveillance showing the husband moving a 55-gallon drum from a storage unit after police searched his home. And if they would have looked at credit card receipts or found that he had rented it, they would have gotten to that quicker and seen that video.

But because they didn't do those initial things, you know, you should always go into these cases with a baseline. You should have a missing person checklist. You go in and at least do the minimum. And then you look at the history. You look at all that surrounds this individual case, and you move up from there. You let the facts drive the case. And clearly that did not happen in this case. Sierra Gillespie, this guy, the killer, Judson Hoover, pled guilty.

He said he wanted to spare his children from having to testify. That's BS. He pled guilty because he caught dead to rights. And there's the death penalty in this jurisdiction in Indiana. What will his sentence be? So as of right now, it's still kind of up in the air what the this jurisdiction in Indiana. What will his sentence be? So as of right now, it's still kind of up in the air what the official sentence will be, but he is slated to be sentenced in October of this year. I understand that the only sentence has got to be life. And if, you know,

I think they should have taken this case to trial and sought the death penalty for what he did, not just to his wife, Rebecca Hoover, but to the children that saw him kill mommy. We wait as justice unfolds. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend.